Sunday Link – September 28, 2025 – 1 Timothy 6:6-19

• Today is the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
• The theme for today is God’s generosity to all.
• The selected Bible readings, which support the theme, are Psalm 91:1–6,14–16;  Jeremiah 32:1–3a, 6–15;  1 Timothy 6:6–19;  Luke 16:19–31.   
  • Our call to worship, found in Psalm 91:1-6 and 14-16, encourages us to share our fears about “any terror in the night” with God, who is involved in our lives and committed to us, “bound to [us] in love.”
  • In the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 32:1-3 and 6-15, we’re taken back to a scene where Jerusalem is going to be destroyed by Babylon.  God instructs the prophet Jeremiah to buy a field from his cousin in what seems to be a silly real estate investment, given the certainty of Babylon’s invasion and the Israelites’ imminent exile.  In this manner, God is demonstrating hope as Israel’s reality and offering a promise of future restoration.
  • The Gospel reading, from Luke 16:19-31, talks about Jesus sharing a parable of Lazarus and the rich man, a fictional story intended to make a point about His kingdom, which is founded on love and understanding.   From the parable we discern that loving concern for those who are poor and unprotected compels us to take action, whatever that may look like in our lives.
  • Our sermon text, found in 1 Timothy 6:6–19, explores the way love, generosity, and service can be expressed in foreshadowing the kingdom on earth.

We’ll only be focusing on two of the selected readings, today … the Gospel reading and the epistle reading.

OPENING SONG

OPENING PRAYER

1 Timothy 6:6–19 NRSVUE

Are there any professional football fans here?  Any longtime fans of the Rams?  If you are, you probably remember that from 1995–2015, they were the St. Louis Rams, located in Missouri, but then they moved back to Los Angeles where they started in 1946.

In 2009, one of the best and highest paid centers in the NFL, Jason Brown, had a five-year, $37 million contract to play for the St. Louis Rams.  In 2012, Brown was released from his contract to be a free agent.  He considered offers to play again with the Baltimore Ravens (his first professional home), and he visited the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers.  However, at age 29, he decided to leave football to become a farmer.

Brown had no experience farming — at all.  He learned to farm by watching YouTube videos and talking to other farmers.  He bought a farm in North Carolina with the intention to help ease hunger in eastern North Carolina and share the love of Jesus.  Brown told CBS News in a 2014 interview that he “never felt more successful.”  With the 1,000 acres of First Fruits Farm, Brown decided to donate the “first fruits” of the harvest to local food pantries.  At the time of the CBS interview, the donation equaled 100,000 pounds of sweet potatoes.  While most people think playing for the NFL would be pretty meaningful, Brown said, “when I think about a life of greatness, I think about a life of service.”

Our sermon text today has a lot to say about money, contentment, and generosity.  It’s easy for us to become distracted by famous people who have lots of money, so a story like Brown’s surprises us.  Hopefully, it gives us a chance to think about our priorities and about God’s never-ending generosity towards us.   Let’s read 1 Timothy 6:6–19.

⁶ Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, ^[a]and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.  ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  ¹³ I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.  Amen.  

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.  ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.  

Context of 1 Timothy 6:6–19

As was mentioned in last week’s sermon, it’s not clear who wrote the pastoral letters (including 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus).  While they have been attributed to Paul, their style and content are quite different from other letters that have been confirmed as written by Paul.

In today’s sermon text, the author of 1 Timothy makes this observation in vv.6-10: the world we live in is full of enjoyable things; we should enjoy them, and while enjoying them, we should also give God thanks.  Money or currency was created to make the exchange of goods and services more convenient.  It’s a human invention, and the more it becomes valued for itself instead of the things we buy with it, the greater the likelihood we make an idol out of it.

The author’s discussion of food and sex in 1 Timothy 4:1–5 handles its topics similarly:

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.  1 Timothy 4:4–5 NRSVUE

The author suggests in 1 Timothy 4:11–16 that the church (and Timothy) should be different than those caught up in the pursuit and love of money.  In a subversive manner, the writer of 1 Timothy contrasts Jesus’ return with Caesar in v.14 (1 Timothy 4:14).  He does this by using special wording familiar to his audience.  Theologian N.T. Wright states that Jesus’ manifestation or “appearing” combines two things: the majesty of a royal visit as well as a moment of divine revelation. “   The word which summed all this up was epiphaneia, the word from which Christians get ‘Epiphany’ … He is deliberately talking about the future ‘appearing’ of Jesus in language his hearers would recognize as normally belonging to Caesar, the Roman emperor” (p. 71–72).  The statement in 1 Timothy 6:15 that Jesus is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” becomes a political statement.

The author also addresses the claims of human beings possessing an immortal soul, which comes from Greek philosophy.  Greek philosophers have argued that every human being has an immortal soul that will live on after bodily death, regardless of the choices made during their lives.   The writer challenges this in v.16:

It is he [Jesus] alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.  1 Timothy 6:16 NRSVUE

The author of 1 Timothy asserts that only God possesses immortality, and human beings gain immortal life because God gives it to them as a gift of grace.  This changes the context of verses such as 1 Timothy 6:11  that might seem to suggest that we simply need to behave better.  Wright, however, points out that while most kings summon their followers to fight in their armies, Jesus’ battle is not one of weaponry and killing but of love, patience, and gentleness (p.74).  It’s a “noble battle,” and not one that we fight for our own sakes.  Instead, this noble battle (1 Timothy 6:17–19) represents a way of life in direct contrast with those preoccupied with money and status as described in 1 Timothy 4:6–10.  This way of living — one of kindness and generosity — is real and lasting.

Let’s consider what the author of 1 Timothy says about how we can love and serve others and connect this with one of the other readings in the RCL, the parable of Lazarus and the rich man as told by Jesus in Luke 16:19–31.

Priorities

Far too often, this sermon text and others about money make  anyone who has financial security  feel uncomfortable for having it  and those who desire financial security or wealth  feel uncomfortable for wanting it.  What if this passage isn’t about money at all?  What if it is more concerned with our priorities?

Our priorities address what we do with money when we have it and how we treat others.  For example, the rich man in the parable expected Lazarus to serve him (i.e., “dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” v.24) and warn his still-living brothers (v.28), even after death.  Jesus doesn’t focus much on what happens after death, other than using its images to jar us into thinking about how we are living our lives now.  Often, Jesus talks about “the kingdom of heaven,” not as some far-off destination but as the way God intends the world to operate when our priorities are in alignment with God’s, as when he prays, “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

As we read the sermon text in 1 Timothy and the parable, we can consider that we aren’t Lazarus, and we aren’t the rich man.  Perhaps, we are the brothers still living who need to be reminded that people were created to be loved, not used or ignored.  We can choose to live “on earth as it is in heaven.”  Our lived-out priorities should reflect those priorities Jesus lived on earth.

Separation

The sermon text in 1 Timothy 6:6–19 talks about the way riches trap us into thinking we don’t need anybody else.  In the parable, there’s a great “chasm” separating the rich man from God and Lazarus in heaven.  How did this great “chasm” occur?

It might have started with the rich man telling himself the story that Lazarus was lazy and didn’t want to work; therefore, he deserved what happened to him.  A modern-day example might be undocumented immigrants or refugees who move to the US to escape war, genocide, hunger, or other undesirable situations.  What would we do if we were them in those terrible conditions?  Would we risk everything to try to save our children?

We can build great divides between us and others when we forget that we all are human and desire to live in peace.  We create great walls when we think our views are “right” or correct and others who think differently are wrong.  This leads to distance between people where a lack of love can grow.  It’s not God’s idea; it starts with us.

Here’s the way it often begins: it makes sense to us that we have to “distance ourselves from those sinners.”  In this way, we cut ourselves off from compassion when we’re faced with suffering.  We lose the ability to see the dignity of every human being.

Using the same technique as Charles Dickens used in the story A Christmas Carol, Jesus paints a similar picture in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man of an old man separated from love and compassion, believing everyone is out to steal from him.  In Scrooge’s case, though, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future show the consequences of isolating or separating himself, and he repents.

The truth is that all human beings were made for relationship  with God and  with each other.  One way we can live in right relationship with God is to gratefully accept the riches we’re given and  share them as we have opportunity.  It’s easy to pay lip service to living righteously, but the sermon text in 1 Timothy 6 offers practical ideas:

• be content with what you have;
• rely on God, not riches;
• be generous and
• (be) ready to share.

We can think about the example of Jason Brown.  He could have simply retired from pro football and lived a comfortable life.  But he chose to do more with the money he earned.  He recognized what he had been given and used it to help those in his area who struggle with food insecurity.  It might have been easier to write a check each year for the local food pantry.  Instead,  Brown decided to step into the unknown world of farming to create not only healthy food to give away but also jobs.

Our generosity might look different than Brown’s generosity, but that doesn’t matter.  We can be generous and treat people with the dignity and respect they deserve as image-bearers of God.

Call to Action: 

• Consider the opportunities you have to be generous based on your means.
• Think about what your congregation might be able to do together to help those who struggle in your community.
• Pray to determine if this outreach effort might be something for the leadership team to review.

CLOSING SONG

CLOSING PRAYER

Small Group Discussion Questions